Mothers
by Abbra063
Summary: Stories of Sora and Riku's mothers.
1. Homecoming

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters**

* * *

Sora didn't bother to close the door behind him, and simply collapsed on his bed. His head hit the pillow and he couldn't move even if he wanted to. After everything with Xemnas and Riku, and all the other things that hurt his brain just thinking about, he was glad to be home. He was back on Destiny Islands, back in his house, back in his room, and it felt surreal.

He faintly heard the sound of a door opening and closing, but he still didn't move. It wasn't until Sora heard his mother's voice that he sat up.

"Sora?" she called uncertainly.

He rushed downstairs with a giant grin on his face and threw his arms around the brunette woman standing in the kitchen. She hugged him back tightly, and he could feel her face pressed into his spiky hair.

"You're really back! I almost couldn't believe it when Kairi told me!" she said. Her breath was warm on his scalp, and he felt more safe and secure than he had in a long time.

She pulled away from him and looked at his face with tears in her eyes. After a couple of affectionate seconds, something in her seemed to snap. Apparently they had remembered at the same time how Sora had suddenly left one night, only to appear over a year later.

Her smiling face grew serious and dark, a look that only a select number people in the universe had seen. He decided at that moment that he would rather face a thousand Nobodies again than see that look.

 **"Do you have any idea how** _ **extremely**_ **worried I was?"** she said carefully, the calm before the storm. **"When my fourteen year old son goes disappearing, at** _ **night**_ **, in the middle of a** _ **storm**_ **? Do you understand how horrible it was, not knowing what had happened? If you had been killed, or kidnapped, or some other terrible event had happened? But apparently none of that happened! Because you come waltzing in here like nothing had happened! I don't even hear that you're back from** _ **you**_ **! I hear it from your girlfriend, while you're sitting around at home!"**

She huffed and took several deep breaths in order to calm herself down. She smiled slightly at Sora, and said, "Love you, sweetheart."

Sora started thinking that she resembled the two-faced mayor from Halloween Town. She kept smiling at him for a bit more and ran her fingers through his hair. This would be comforting, if it weren't for the lingering terror.

The doorbell rang and she rushed away to open it. On the other side of the door stood Kairi, Riku, and Riku's silver-haired mother. Sora's mother quickly invited them in and gave Riku a hug.

Riku's mother smiled at Sora sweetly, and quickly wrapped her arms around him. Despite how much he would miss Donald and Goofy, and how much he wouldn't appreciate explaining where he was to his mother, it was great to be home.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm making the call right now, Xehanort is not the father of either of them. Other than that, all I have to say is that feedback is appreciated.**


	2. Homecoming: Riku

Riku took a deep breath and opened his front door. It hadn't changed… at all. He was finally back in his house on Destiny Islands. It was weird being in a place that didn't have heartless at every corner.

On the wall he could see a picture of himself six years prior, holding a sea shell. There were other pictures surrounding it, littering almost the entirety of the wall. He could see a book sitting on the coffee table that he had never managed to finish. Also on the coffee table, was a cup of tea that still had steam curling over it. His mother was in the house.

"R-Riku?"

He quickly looked to see where the voice was coming from. His mother was standing at the entrance to the kitchen, with both hands clasped over her mouth, and tears starting to stream down her face. Her legs were shaking wildly, and she looked like a leaf shivering in the wind, about to be blown away.

That didn't stop her from rushing forward and throwing her arms around her son. She sobbed uncontrollably into his shoulder, and hot tears drenched his shirt. He found himself supporting her, or else she would have collapsed on to the floor in a weeping mess.

He had racked his mind, wondering how he may be able to face his mother after…all that he had done. In the end however, she had opened her arms and embraced him with them.

* * *

Sora's mother told him that he needed a haircut.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Yeah I couldn't help but add that last part**


	3. Nightmare

"MOM! MOM!" a young Sora screamed at the top of his lungs. A bedraggled woman rushed into the room and turned on the lights. She sighed when she saw her son with blankets covering his head. She walked over to him while running fingers through her tangled hair.

She sat down on his bed, and gently removed the blankets. Sora was trembling and wiping away tears that had started streaming down his face.

"Oh, baby," she whispered, before pulling him close and gently stroking his hair. "Did you have a nightmare?" she asked quietly.

The crying boy nodded, sniffling. His face was pressed into her shirt, and he din't dare to make a sound. It was almost hard to believe that he had been screaming bloody murder a minute before.

"Do you want to tell me what it was about?" she asked gently, trying to coax words out of him. Usually whenever he had a nightmare, he would tell her all about it until he fell back to sleep.

He shook his head, still refusing to say anything.

She was quiet for a while, wondering how bad it must have been, to put her usually talkative child in this state. "Do you want to sleep with me and dad?" she finally asked, figuring she wouldn't get him to say anything.

He nodded weakly.

She picked him up, and carried him into her room. She placed him down next to his sleeping father, from whom he had earned his spiky hair. She laid down next to him, so he was sandwiched in between his parents.

It was quite for a few minutes, and Sora's mother was nearly asleep... until something woke her back up.

"There was this big, black, monster thingy," he mumbled. "It had this big hole in it's chest, shaped like a heart. It had big eyes, that were yellow, and glowing."

He talked and talked, while his eyes got droopier, and his voice got quieter. Soon he was asleep.

Sora went to sleep in between the warmth of his father and mother, and no more nightmares reached him.


	4. Nightime

"Stay calm, you have to stay… calm," a silver-haired woman told herself repeatedly. It was night on Destiny Islands, and the woman was shrouded in darkness. She sat on her queen sized bed alone, with all of her blankets kicked to the floor. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, and tears leaked from her eyes to trickle down her face. Her hands tightly gripped her own hair, and she was rocking back and forth slightly.

"He's alright, I am sure he's alright," she muttered to herself. "You worry too much. It's not the first time something like this has happened… But he hasn't been this late before… No! He's alright! He has to be alright…" she told herself quietly.

She pulled her legs away from her chest and let go of her hair. She sighed shakily and pushed her hair behind her ears. She took a few deep breaths that were shaking as much as she was, and even more tears overflowed her eyes. Her hands covered her face, and she failed miserably to restrain the sobs escaping her mouth.

There was a faint creaking sound that made her look up from her hands. She quickly wiped away her tears and called out, "Riku? Is that you?"

There was more creaking as her son, with same silver hair, appeared at the doorway. His eyes were dull and tired. "Are okay, sweetie?" she asked, trying to sound like she hadn't been crying.

He nodded, and said, "Yeah, I just can't sleep."

His mother gently patted the spot next to her, and she quietly said "Come here."

He slowly padded over to the bed and sat down next to her.

"I'm worried," he said, almost inaudibly. He was quiet for a bit, before finally saying, "I'm… worried about Dad."

His mother had to stop herself from taking a sharp intake of breath, or bursting into tears. She gulped, trying to be quiet. Riku was examining her face, and her expression gave him the answer she wouldn't say aloud. He looked away from her, pressing his lips tightly together.

"I-I'm sure he's fine, dear. This isn't the first time your father's been late from returning from a trip," she said, her voice quivering. She put her arm around him, and squeezed his shoulder.

"He hasn't been this late before," he mumbled, barely audible. There was even more quiet, and the only sound was Riku's breathing growing steadily shakier.

His mother would have said something else to comfort him, but the sound of him starting to cry stopped her. He sniffed and tried to steady his breathing. He held his breath until it started coming out in gasps. His hands were growing damp from wiping away tears that refused to dry. His shoulders were shaking, and he started sobbing. Growing quiet every few seconds in his attempts to calm himself, but his sobs only grew louder.

She kissed the top of his head and pulled him on to her lap. She put her arms around him and hummed softly. He didn't push her away, but he looked down so she wouldn't see his face. His only thought was that she was already worrying, she didn't need another reason to be upset.

His mother felt bile build up in her throat, and tears prick her eyes. She swallowed the bile and quickly wiped her eyes so Riku wouldn't see. Her only thought was that she needed to be strong for her son, he didn't need another reason to be upset.

* * *

 **Author's Note: So if you haven't figured out already, Sora's mom is the type of mom that gives her son and his best friend wooden swords and tells them to have fun. Riku's mom is the type of mom that makes her son and his best friend chocolate chip cookies.**


	5. Deadly Quality Time

"And that was the time your mom and I got arrested for breaking and entering," Sora's mother said.

Riku stared up at her. "Wow, I didn't think my mom would do anything like that. I always just assumed that she was the well behaved voice of reason," he said. The brunette woman chuckled at his statement.

"Ha! No, no, no. Well… She was at first, but I've been told I was a terrible influence back then," she said. "It usually worked that I would come up with a scheme, and then push her to do it with me. Thankfully we mellowed out as we got older, and soon the wildest thing we were doing is taking more free food samples than what was socially acceptable."

Riku and his best friend's mother were in the living room in her house. A box full of photographs had spilled all across the floor, and they sat on the rug, looking at the pictures. She was holding up a photo of a teenager version of her and her silver-haired friend, hand-cuffed in an old-fashioned version of Destiny Island's police station.

He turned his gaze back at the box. He was slightly amazed that she had kept all of these, she never seemed like the sentimental type. There were photos of everything, wedding photos, baby photos, childhood photos, photos of long forgotten friendships, but one caught his eye. He reached out his hand and picked up one of the older photos. It was a picture of a young girl wielding a long, iron sword.

"When was this?" he said. She plucked the picture out of his hand and looked at it.

"Oh! I remember this!" she said. She then gave Riku a weird look, and stood up and walked into the next room. He followed her up the stairs, and watched as she pulled down the ladder to the house's attic. Up there were even more boxes full of photos, and random pieces of furniture that looked like they belonged in a museum. She was even more sentimental than he had imagined.

She pushed aside an ancient chair, and victoriously pulled out the item she was seeking. It was the sword from the picture. It was a long, double edged sword, with a plain, leather grip. She grinned with the look of a maniac.

"Where did you get that?" Riku said.

She smiled at him and replied, "My grandfather gave this to me when I was eight years old. He was pretty old-fashioned, but he felt that I should learn how to use a sword even if I was a girl. So I trained for years. But, when I started getting older and growing more independent, I stopped doing it. So I just kept in whatever storage room I had at the time, this sucker is the main reason why Sora isn't allowed up here."

Riku was now looking at her with awe and respect that he never had before. She looked at him and his dropped jaw, and she laughed.

"I'm a little rusty nowadays," she said, "But I was really good when I was younger. Maybe that's why I gave you and Sora those wooden swords, because I wanted you to enjoy sword fighting as much as I did. Though, it was quite miserable at times."

Riku's eyes were practically glowing once she finished talking. "Wow… can you teach me!" he said, before blushing at the eagerness in his voice.

"Well, like I said, I'm quite rusty and it could be danger- Oh, who am I kidding, I'll do it," she said. Riku failed to contain the grin that spread across his face. "But let's use the wooden swords, those are less… lethal."

Riku just nodded, he then dashed out of the room to get the swords.

She wondered for a second if it was a good idea or not, but shrugged that thought away as she followed her new pupil. It turns out she was still as bad as an influence on that family as she had been years prior.

* * *

"Have a nice day!" the brunette woman called to him as he walked down the sidewalk, heading back home. Riku waved back at her, until Sora ran into him.

"Oww…" Sora said. They sat up, rubbing their heads and glaring at each other.

"Riku?" he said, "What are you doing here? I thought we were supposed to spend the whole day with each other. I've been waiting at your house for hours!"

"We agreed that we would meet at _your_ house," Riku said, "I've been waiting there for hours, what did you even do for all that time?"

Sora started blushing profoundly. "N-Nothing, what were you doing? You're all sweaty and covered in scratches."

The silver-haired boy wanted to continue asking what had happened that caused his friend to blush so much, but he felt he could say something much better. "Sorry, I can't say," he said.

Sora cocked his head in confusion. "What do you mean you can't say?"

"It's a secret, I can't say."

"But I'm your best friend! We have to share secrets with each other!"

"Well, I'm breaking that rule."

"RIKU!"

Sora's mother laughed at the two arguing friends. "Kids," she said, shaking her head. The house phone started ringing, and she went to pick it up.

"Hello? Oh, Martha! W-what? Oh, Riku was fine. We just looked at pictures for… we looked at pictures! Well, what happened with Sora? What to do you mean you can't tell me? Oh, so what if he wanted you to keep it a secret? His pride? I changed his diapers, he has no dignity in this relationship. Oh please, please, please, please… you stubborn as a mule, woman!"

* * *

 **Author's Note: This is how Riku came to be a better swordfighter than Sora. This was originally was supposed to be more emotional, but it was taking too long to write. If you haven't guessed, the next chapter will be about Sora and Riku's mom hanging out. And thanks for all the feedback! It is very appreciated.**


	6. Semi-Normal Quality Time

A silver-haired woman recoiled as a wave of heat blasted her face as she opened the oven door.

A short, spiky-haired brunette boy sat at a table near by. He rapidly swung his legs back and forth, causing the table cloth to quiver.

The woman pulled out a loaf of bread and, quickly placed in on a hot pad before shutting the oven door. "I've got to remember to let that first wave out before I stick my face in," she said, feeling her cheeks with her oven mitts still on. The young boy giggled at her ridiculous actions.

"So, Sora," she said, "What were you planning on doing with Riku today?"

His eyes immediately lit up, and he started chattering away. "We're going to go fishing, like my dad does! We even made fishing rods! We're gonna catch a big fish, and cook it, and eat it all! And after that-"

The sound of the doorbell echoed throughout the entire house, and Riku's mother stood up to get the door. "Well," she said, smiling towards Sora, "It looks like Riku's come to join us finally."

Sora quickly ran ahead of her and flung the door open before she could. The door banged against the wall, and Sora let out a strangled squeak before bolting away. Riku's mother furrowed her brow once he dashed by him.

In front of the door was a young, red-headed girl wearing a white dress. Beside her was an older woman with little similarity to the young girl. Riku's mother greeted them politely, still wondering what was wrong with Sora.

Meanwhile, Sora had dashed into Riku's room, red-faced. He went to the corner of the room and curled himself together tightly, hoping that if the girl did come into the room, she wouldn't be able to see him. The door opened, and he tensed, waiting for his demise.

Riku's mother peeked inside the room, before walking over and kneeling by Sora.

"Thank goodness it's you," Sora whispered, "I though you were _her_ for a second."

She frowned, then said, "Who? Kairi?" He nodded vigorously, and she frowned even more. "What's wrong with Kairi? She's a very sweet girl."

Sora lowered his head slightly and mumbled, "Yeah, I know."

That was when she noticed a faint pink color starting to lightly dust his cheeks. She gasped quietly, causing Sora to look up. Her frown turned to a grin, and she said, "You have a crush on her, don't you?"

He jumped up, his face bright red, and he said, "N-no I don't!"

She chuckled. "It's alright Sora," she said, and then reached over to place her hand on his head. She put her fingers to lips and said, "I won't tell a soul."

He looked around, as if for any listeners, then said, "You promise?"

"I promise," she said. "But, you can't camp out in Riku's room, you'll have to at least sit somewhere I can see you." Sora deflated a little, but then changed his defeated expression into a determined one, and walked out of Riku's room without a single falter.

* * *

The silver-haired woman sat on her couch, sipping a hot cup of tea. By the time Kairi's mother had come to pick her up, she had to pull her tearful daughter away from her newest friend. Sora had left not to long after, figuring that Riku wouldn't come at this point, and it would be too late to do anything even if he did.

She decided to check up with one of her oldest friends on how her day with Riku had gone. She got up and picked up the telephone.

"Hi Catherine, it's me. How was Riku? That sounds like fun, though I am wondering how that kept you occupied for so many hours… How was Sora? Well- actually, I can't tell you. He wanted me to keep it a secret. It's a matter of his pride. He still asked me to keep it a secret. Fine, what happened was- actually, never mind. There's no need to yell."


	7. Cazoova

On the shores of Destiny Island, a brunette woman and two young boys sat on the sand. They had laid out a blanket and set up an umbrella to block them from the sun. The two boys were on their stomachs, each with a piece of paper in front of them and a colored marker in hand.

There was no tension in the air, but that wouldn't last for long.

The silver-haired boy sat up and proudly held up his masterpiece. "It's a keyblade," he said.

The brunette boy also sat up to stare in awe at his friend's drawing. "Whoa! An _X_ -blade!" he said.

The silver-haired boy shook his head and corrected his friend, "No, it's a keyblade, not an _X_ -blade."

" _X_ -blade."

" _Key_ blade."

The brunette woman looked between them with her eyebrows scrunched together. "Wha-You're both saying the _exact_ same thing!" she said.

The brunette boy rolled his eyes and sighed exaggeratedly. "It's not like you would understand, Catherine," he said. He wisely said the last part quieter, but she still noticed.

"Excuse me?" she said.

"Sora," the silver-haired boy said quietly.

"What?" Sora said, crossing his arms.

Catherine raised her eyebrows, either meaning she was impressed at his courage, or surprised by his stupidity. "What? For a boy who just called his mother Catherine, you're awfully cocky."

"It's your name," he said quietly. He was now looking down at his own unfinished drawing as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "I don't see why I should call you Mom if it's not your real name."

"Ah," the silver-haired boy said while looking up at Catherine, "So he finally found out?"

"Yeah," she said, never taking her eyes off Sora. "I'll forgive this for now, but I don't want you to call me that."

"Fine," Sora said, quietly adding, "Catherine."

She chose to ignore him, and instead said, "I like your _X_ -blade, Riku."

"Actually it's- Never mind," Riku said. He had nothing better to do, so he started to add some lines and stars to his drawing.

Not too long after, Sora asked, "Hey, what is a keyblade?"

Riku looked up at his friend, then looked back down. He added another star on to the corner of his drawing. "It's nothing," he said.

Sora leaned closer to Riku, who was refusing to make eye contact. "Wait," he said, "It isn't one of those secret things you never tell me about, is it?"

Riku ignored him, but after several seconds of Sora staring intensely at him, he answered. "Yes," he said bluntly, still not making eye contact with his friend.

"Oh come on!" Sora said.

"Sora, don't use your whiny voice," Catherine warned him.

He grumbled under his breath, but stopped when he saw his mother's warning glare. "Fine," he, "I have my own secret thing." He quickly started drawing, before holding up his paper for the world to see . "It's called a… a cazoova!"

On the paper was a colorful drawing that looked like a half-completed picture of a star-shaped fruit with jagged spikes sticking out of it.

"That looks great, Sora," his mother said.

"What's a kazoova?" Riku asked.

"It's a thing," Sora said, glancing away from his friend. "It's a secret thing you don't know about." he continued, "And it's pronounced _c_ azoova, not _k_ azoova."

"It's the same thing."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is."

" _No_ , it's not."

Catherine took their distraction with each other to hide their wooden swords under the blanket. "Okay boys," she said, "I think this argument has been milked enough. I expected more from you, you're both-er… Riku, you're mature enough to know that this is unacceptable. You have much better things to be doing, not arguing over how you pronounce qazoova."

In the end, it would take a few days until any of the three could look at each other. Dinner at Sora's house was extremely awkward.

* * *

 **Author's Note** : **This chapter may have seemed a bit weird, and for good reason. This was for challenge issued by ZadArchie in the Writer's Anonymous Challenge Thread. The challenge was to pick one of the made-up words given, and integrate it into the story. You probably can guess which word that was. Yeah, it might be hard to get some of the jokes in this chapter unless you've played Birth By Sleep... Sorry about that. Anyway, please review and have a nice day.**


	8. All-Nighter

Two teenage girls sat on the floor of a bedroom together. It was dark outside, and Destiny Island's sky was dotted with stars.

The girls sat facing each other, occasionally reaching over to weakly slap the other. There were bags under their eyes.

The brunette girl finally let out a loud groan. "Ugh! When will this night end?" she said.

"We just have to wait until the sun comes up," her friend said. The brunette girl put her face in her hands and started fake-sobbing. Her friend grabbed her by one shoulder and started shaking her. "Catherine! Be quiet, you'll wake up my parents. We're lucky enough that they even let me see you after you got us arrested, even more so that they let you have a sleepover."

Catherine lowered her hands to partially glare at her friend. "First of all," she said, "It wasn't me that got us arrested, it was that stupid chicken. Secondly, it's not a sleepover if there's no sleeping."

"Fine," her friend said, "An all-nighter."

Catherine groaned loudly again, prompting her friend to shake her shoulder again and tell her to shut up. Then, Catherine suddenly shot up with her eyes wide.

"Martha!" she said.

"Shut up!" Martha said, before saying, "What?"

"I don't know, I just thought if I said that a conversation topic would come to me. It didn't." Catherine closed her eyes and rested her head in her hands.

Martha rubbed her eyes. "Well, we could talk about… A thing," she said.

Catherine opened her eyes just to give her silver-haired friend an unimpressed look. "A thing?" she said, "Wow, an amazing idea from the brilliant, genius-"

"I don't need your judgment. My mind is tired."

" _Whose fault is that_?"

Martha slapped her friend again. Catherine slapped her back, and soon they were back to slapping each other in silence.

It stayed like that for a bit until Catherine asked mid-slap, "What do you think you want your children?"

"…What?"

"What do you want to name your children, I mean. My mind is tired too, okay?" she said.

"Well," Martha said, "If it's a girl her name will be Martha obviously. If it's a boy his name will be Marth, but his middle name will begin with A."

Catherine snorted. "You know, people never believe me when I say you're the more egotistical out of the two of us," she said.

"It's not that, I'm just graciously giving my children one of the best names of all time," Martha said. "Anyway, what would you name your kids?"

Catherine stroked an imaginary beard as she thought. "I would name my daughter Bella, I've always loved that name. Now my son… How about Riku?"

"Ooh, I like that," Martha said, "I've changed my mind, I'm naming my son Riku."

"What? No! I came up with it!"

"You can't claim a name as your own."

"Well I just did!"

"At this point it's just a matter of who has a kid first."

"Then it's also a matter of who gets married first."

"But you have to get a boyfriend first."

"You're on."

* * *

Martha pulled the blankets over her head. While the sunlight did give her an overwhelming sense of relief, it was going to cause a problem with her sleep. She waited for her friend to slide in next to her, but she didn't.

Catherine instead decided to flop down on top of Martha, for she lacked the energy to even lift up a blanket.

"Get up," Martha said. She pushed against the top of her friend's head, but Catherine only snuggled closer. Finally, she gave up trying.

They both got their well-deserved rest.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Fun fact, Catherine's mistake when asking Martha was an actual mistake I made. I just decided to keep it in since it fit. I guess my mind's also tired.**

 **Also, thank you all so much for your support! I greatly appreciate it. Review and have a lovely day!**


	9. Memories

On Destiny Island, a red-haired man opened the door to his house. Inside, the kitchen was empty. "Catherine," he called, "I'm home!" There was no response.

He walked over to the living room and peeked inside, she wasn't there either. He couldn't help but stare at the empty space underneath the coffee table. Usually, there was a brown box filled to the brim with pictures. However, it wasn't anywhere to be seen.

He walked up the stairs, and he noticed that all the pictures once on the wall seem to have been taken down.

In the upstairs, there were four doors. One was the small door on the ceiling that opened up to the attic. The other two doors lead to the bathroom, and his and Catherine's bedroom.

He slowly opened the door to their bedroom, and sure enough, his wife sat on the bed.

She had the brown box next to her, and before her laid countless pictures. Her eyes slightly hurt from staring at them so intensely for so long, but she could force herself to stop.

"Dear?" her husband said.

She snapped her head up. She then put one hand her face, laughing a little. "Nathan, you scared me," she said.

Nathan walked over and sat on the bed next to her. His brows furrowed. "What's all this?" he said, motioning towards the many pictures.

Her expression darkened for a few seconds, but then she looked at her husband with a hopeless look. "Don't you feel like something is…Off?" she said, "I mean look at this picture."

She handed him the photo nearest to her. It was a picture of two children sitting next to each other. They were a boy and a girl, and Nathan could vaguely remember their names. Riku and Kairi.

"What about it?" he said.

Catherine groaned and pointed at the picture. "Don't you see it? Right there," she said. She was pointing at the large gap in between Riku and Kairi. "Why aren't they sitting closer? It seems like you could fit a whole other child in there."

Nathan shrugged. "I don't know, maybe they were still at the age where cooties were a thing," he said.

"Yeah," she said, "But why do we even have a picture of them in the first place?"

"Riku is Martha's kid, right? Plus, you have a bunch of pictures of random kids anyway. Why does this bother you?"

"It's not just this one though!" she said, clearly becoming more frustrated. She waved her hand over the collection of pictures in front of her. "There are more like this! Something isn't right?"

She desperately searched his eyes for any sign that she was getting through to him, but there was none. She sighed in defeat and her shoulders slumped.

"Dear," Nathan finally said, "You're starting to worry me."

"It's just…" she said. She looked up at him. "Why do you think we never had kids?"

He scooted closer and put one arm around her. "Well," he said, "I'm sure that sometime ago we sat down and agreed we wouldn't have kids."

She looked up at him and smiled.

"What?" he asked.

She just reached up with both hands and started running them through his hair. "When we first started dating, your hair was this big spiky mess. Now it's all flat and boring."

He gently removed her hands. "It's been a while since we started dating," he said, "Now why don't we clean this up and go downstairs?"

Catherine nodded.

* * *

The scent of dinner was wafting into the bedroom where Nathan sat reading a book. He put it on the bedside table and stood up. She was probably already done cooking.

He stared walking down the stairs, but then he stopped. He looked to his left, and saw another door. His heart skipped a beat.

He tried to calm himself, there were four doors in the upstairs, that was the fourth one. But then he thought, what was in there? He couldn't remember for the life of him. He walked towards it, reaching out to put his hand on the handle.

He shook his head, and started walking downstairs.

He sat down at the table, but Catherine didn't look at him. She walked over to the stairs and called up, "Dinner is ready!"

"Dear," he said, causing her to whip around. "I'm right here."

He laughed a little, thinking she would also laugh at her mistake. Instead, she stared at him with a confused expression. All she said was, "Oh, I knew that."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Was that ending a bit creepy? I creeped myself out a bit. I also reminded myself of the Doctor Who episode, The Eleventh Hour. So I've thought of probably five more chapter ideas, so look forward to that. Please review and have a nice day!**


	10. Surprise

The sun was shining down on Destiny Islands, and it seemed like every child was running around and enjoying its warmth. Parents laughed and watched them wrestle and play with each other. Every house had its windows wide open to fill each room with light.

There was one exception.

One house had all of its curtains drawn. If one were to try to peek in, they might be able to spot the faint light from the single lit candle in the house. If one were to try to listen in, they might be able to catch nonsensical whisperings. And, if you got close enough, you might be able to smell something…a rotting smell.

Of course, no one on the island really cared.

* * *

"I'm sorry about that rotting smell, we think an animal died somewhere. Unfortunately we still haven't found it."

Two children, a boy and girl, sat in front of a table with a single candle on it. Across from them sat a woman with long, silver hair. The boy was covering his nose with his shirt. The girl just had her face scrunched and her fingers pinching her nose.

"Do you think we could open one of the windows?" the girl said, "It's kind of stuffy in here."

The woman nodded, "Ah, it is quite warm in here, isn't it?" She started to stand up, but then the boy statred protesting.

"No! We need to keep them closed for effect!" he said, "You can't have a secret meeting where just anyone can look in."

The woman and girl looked at his defiant expression, then at each other, and shrugged in defeat.

"So, Sora, Kairi," the woman said, "What do you think we should do for Riku's thirteenth birthday?"

"Cake, ice cream, cookies, cup-" Sora started to say.

"I've already discussed all the food options with your mother," Riku's mother said. "But what do you think Riku would like, _other_ than food."

Kairi moved the hand clutching her nose to her chin, and she stroked it thoughtfully. She quickly moved it back to her nose before saying, "Well… Riku likes… He likes…"

"We know this," Sora said, "We're his best friends, so we know that Riku likes…" He stared into space, his mouth still open as if he expected words to come out.

"Well you're his mother," Kairi said, "What does he like."

Riku's mother shrugged. "I don't know," she said, "He never tells me anything, that's why I'm asking you."

"He likes swordfighting," Kairi said, "Though I'm not sure if that's helpful in this case."

"He likes beating me in things," Sora said, "So… I just let him beat me in a bunch of stuff."

"That wouldn't be much different than usual."

"Kairi! Why would you… Yeah, you're right."

The three of them sat in silence as they realized they didn't know the silver-haired boy as well as they thought they did. The candle flickered.

The silence was broken with the sound of someone pounding on the door.

"Mom," a voice called, "Why is the door locked?"

The three of them bolted up. "Riku," Kairi hissed.

Riku's mother quickly stood up and turned on one of the lamps, before blowing out the candle. "You two take the back door," she said. She started slowly walking towards the front door.

Sora grabbed her hand and they ran to the back door. The closed it behind them right as they heard, "Sorry about that, dear."

Sora immediately rolled into the nearest bush, then from there statred crawling around the house. Kairi followed him, but much more slowly. "Isn't this a bit excessive?" she said, pushing her way through the bush.

"Yeah," Sora said. He briefly looked back at her to grin. "But you've got to admit it's pretty fun."

Kairi smiled back. "Well," she said, "It kind of is."

Once they were at what Sora deemed to be a safe distance, they stood up. "I guess it's up to us to get everything for Riku's birthday then," Sora said. Kairi nodded. "Ok, let's split up and then come back here with what we've found." Kairi nodded again.

The two children ran off in opposite directions, looking behind themselves to wave at the other.

* * *

In the middle of the road there was a pile of ribbons, flowers, random chess pieces, a broken stick, rocks painted with smiley-faces, a jump-rope, and a piece of Tidus' shorts.

Sora and Kairi stood in front of it. They were still breathing heavily from running all around the island.

"This looks good, right," Sora said.

"Yeah," Kairi said.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Riku had an… interesting birthday that year to say the least. Also, Kairi! (yay) But I can't thank you all enough for your support. I find it hard to believe that people would want to read my story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and have a lovely day!**


	11. Lies

"Mom, where do babies come from?"

A spiky-haired boy innocently stared up at his mother. She looked back at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Why do you want to know?" she said.

Immediately he said, "Because Dad won't tell me."

"Then you should know what my answer is." He opened his mouth to utter a whiny response, but she quickly cut him off. "I'll tell you when you're older."

He scrunched his face up and stomped his foot. "But why?" he said.

His mother looked at him, assessing his expression. She saw her own stupid stubbornness in his eyes, and she didn't feel like dealing with him for the rest of the night.

She sighed. "All right," she said. She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. She tapped her foot while he held completely still in anticipation.

Finally she said, "They wash up on the shore, and when two people want a baby, they go find one on the beach."

One glance to her son told her that he wasn't buying what she was selling. The curious glow in his eyes had changed to dull skepticism.

"I haven't seen anyone wash up on the beach," he said, "You're lying!"

Offended that he didn't appreciate the genius of her explanation, she shook her head and scoffed. "Well where did think Kairi came from?" she said.

His eyes widened and an awed, "Oh…" escaped from his mouth.

She nodded with a smug smile on her face.

He turned around and ran into the next room while shouting, "Mom told me! You were lying when you said the supermarket!"

* * *

"Hey Dad, what does 'time of the month' mean?"

A red-haired man looked down at his son, whom he was walking back home from his first day of middle school.

"Where did you hear about that, bud?" he said.

"I heard two of my teachers talking at lunch, they said another teacher was on it."

His father sighed, running fingers through his hair. "That's probably a question better suited for your mother," he said.

"Why? What is it?"

The man took a sharp intake of air. He put his arm around his son. "Well Sora," he said, "For women, there is a time that comes around, generally once a month, in which they might become very irritable. It is often referred to as their 'time of the month'."

"Huh," Sora said. He went quiet and stared down at the dirt path they were walking. For a few seconds his father thought he was free.

"Why do they get irritable?"

His father cringed, his freedom dissipating before his eyes. He cleared his throat, deciding that the scientific answer might be the least awkward. "You see, during this time there are many hormones that-"

His son was looking up at him with a blank expression.

"Okay, um, the hormones attract a bunch of mosquitos, and they're upset because they have a bunch of mosquito bites."

"Whoa, really?" Sora said.

"Yes, really."

"That must suck, I should start getting Mom bug spray so she won't yell at me as much."

"You do that," his father said. As Sora ran ahead, he put one hand on his forehead and muttered, "I'm turning into Catherine."

* * *

"Mom I know you're still mad, but can't you at least unlock the bathroom door?"

"You didn't use that bathroom for over a year, so I fail to see why you need to use it now."

"Dear, why don't you unlock the door?"

"This isn't your fight, Nathan."

In the small kitchen of a small house, a mother held a pair of keys behind her back. Her husband stood next to her with his hand on her shoulder. Their son kneeled before her with his hands clasped together.

"Please," he begged, "I really have to go."

"Go outside," his mother said.

"We live in a big neighborhood!"

His father rubbed her arm. "I'm equally upset as you are, but this seems unnecessary," he said.

They looked each other in the eyes for several moments before she sighed and said, "Fine." Her son lunged for the keys once she moved them from out behind her back, but she quickly moved them away. "But on one condition." She leaned down and looked her son dead in the eye. "You have to promise that you'll never pull something like that again."

"You're acting like I did it on purpose!" he cried. She shot him a cold glare and he scrambled to say, "But I promise that I never plan on leaving this island ever again."

She dropped the keys into his hands, and he was gone in a second.

"Well I suppose that's a good thing," her husband said.

"Yeah, but I'm getting the feeling that he's not being completely honest."

* * *

 **Yay! I'm not dead… just lazy. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you all for your support, please review, and have a wonderful day!**


	12. The Date

Martha couldn't help but notice that Catherine was being uncharacteristically quiet.

They were sitting in her room, yet the usually studious brunette hadn't bothered to pull any homework from her backpack. Neither had Martha, but that was beside the point. The point was that her friend hadn't done anything in the past half-hour other than pick at a piece of thread on her shirt.

Martha tried to go back to her book. She ended up rereading the same paragraph five times for lack of paying attention.

 _Maribelle leapt into Garth's arms, peppering his neck with kisses. "Oh Garth, I…_

Catherine let out a sigh, and Martha snapped her head towards her friend.

"What should I do?" she said.

Martha closed her book. "About what exactly?" she said slowly.

Her friend stared at her with an incredulous expression. "My date today?" she said, "With Nathan?"

For a few moments Martha wasn't sure if she should be calm or if she should be flipping the nearest desk.

On one hand, it was completely unsurprising that her friend had overlooked telling her; Catherine had a history of forgetting that they couldn't communicate telepathically.

On the other hand however, the words 'Catherine' and 'date' didn't exactly fit together. Her friend had shown little to no interest in relationships for as long as she could remember.

"Oh," was all she could manage.

Her brunette friend didn't seem to catch on to her confusion, and steamrolled ahead. "I know, what was I thinking asking him out? We're not in the same grade and we've never spoken. He looked so terrified, I swear he only said yes so I wouldn't eat him," she said. She sighed again, now resting her face in her hands.

"You're not that scary," Martha said, patting her friend's shoulder "But since when have you had feelings for Nathan? I didn't know you were even friends."

"We're not. Like I said, we've never talked to each other," Catherine muttered. Her voice was muffled until she lifted her head to give Martha a confused look. "And you knew I had a crush on Nathan, I remember telling you."

"Telling me through intense eye contact doesn't count, Cathy."

"I specifically remember speaking it."

"When was this?"

"Hmm…Some time in second grade, I think?"

Martha struggled to look at her friend with a straight face while a smile struggled to form on her lips. Only Catherine could have such a long-lasting crush on someone who was essentially a stranger. She was doe-eyed like that, even if it was her fault they had gotten arrested once.

"I'm afraid I can't recall that particular conversation," she said slowly, still trying to restrain a grin.

"Are you laughing at me?" Catherine said with a frown.

A shaking of the head was her only response. Honestly, Martha found it more sweet than funny, but restraining a smile usually let loose a laugh.

This time was no different, and it took a few minutes for the sound of hysterical cackling to leave the room.

"Can we get back to my problem, or are you not done yet?" Catherine said. Her arms were crossed, and she clearly wasn't feeling as amused as she usually would.

"S-Sorry," Martha choked out. A final giggle escaped before she cleared her throat and straightened her back. "First, I am going to need some information before I can give any advice," she said in a suddenly very serious tone.

Catherine flopped back on her bed and said, "Alright, what do you wanna know?"

"Location."

"I didn't specify."

"Okay then. Formal or casual."

"I didn't specify."

"Time?"

"Ooh!" she yelped, "I know that one!"

The mattress springs squeaked as Catherine flopped around, trying to bounce into a sitting position.

"It's five-thirty right now," Martha said. Inwardly she prayed for a normal best friend, ignoring how the room had suddenly gone silent. Said best friend was now frozen up with a blank expression on her face.

"Oh…that's probably not good," Catherine muttered.

At that moment, an airy voice belonging to the brunette's mother carried into the room.

"Catherine, your friend is here!"

No words were needed. The two girls simply made eye contact and their lips moved in unison to create the same phrase:

 _Exit C_

* * *

Nathan tried to take calming breaths, but soon it to his previous anxious breathing . The old stairs creaked with each step he took, and he jumped each time. Needless to say, he wasn't feeling particularly optimistic.

He tried to rationalize it, but there was no reasonable explanation for what had happened earlier that day.

The school day was over, and he was starting to walk in the direction of his house when a hand materialized on his shoulder. The hand belonged to a tall, broad-shouldered brunette whose name he didn't know.

She was one grade above him, he knew that. The only reason he recognized her was because she was close friends with a girl from his class. Other than that, they had no connection

Then she had asked him to go on a date with her. Nathan wasn't an idiot, he had heard the stories of her getting arrested before. He wasn't sure he wanted to get tangled up with someone like that.

She stared at him like a vulture while waiting for an answer, but when he agreed for fear of his life, her eyes lit up like mini fireworks. For a few moments, he was able to convince himself that it wouldn't be that bad.

Then she grinned like a shark and he ran for his life.

The door to her bedroom was open, and Nathan reluctantly stepped inside. It was empty. Two backpacks leaned against each other, and a lonely book lay on the bed. The window was open and a light breeze passed by him.

For a few seconds he wondered if he had the wrong room. It was then he saw the hand letting go of the windowsill.

He poked his head outside.

Two girls had started running away from the house at inhuman speeds.

He watched as they disappeared into the horizon. He walked away, muttering under his breath, "Crisis averted."

* * *

"And that's how I didn't end up dating your father for another two years."


	13. A Great Conversationalist

A brunette woman took a long sip from her mug before she called over her shoulder, "Dear, can you come here for a second?"

A red-haired man walked over and stood beside her. "What is it?" he asked.

She nodded a something through the window and said, "Your son is having a conversation with a duck."

Outside, a mother duck was guiding her ducklings across the earth. A boy with hair poking in every direction was walking alongside her. He seemed to be in deep discussion, waving his arms around animatedly.

The man put a hand in his wife's shoulder. "We can't question every little thing, we can just be happy that he's back."

She only responded by taking another sip of her coffee.

 **Author's Note: I'm not even sure that there are ducks on Destiny Island, but let's say that there are for the sake of this chapter. Anyway, I would like to thank you all for your support. Reviews are greatly appreciated, and have a nice day!**


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